Turning Point USA CEO Erika Kirk canceled a highly anticipated appearance with Vice President JD Vance after receiving “very serious threats,” a spokesman for the group said Tuesday.

Andrew Kolvet, a spokesman for the conservative student activist group, stepped in for Charlie Kirk’s widow at the Athens, Ga., event and informed the crowd why the grieving mother of two couldn’t be there to interview the vice president, who still attended the event.

“I’m going to address it right at the front, Mr. Vice President, I’m on stage here instead of our friend Erika Kirk because unfortunately she has received some very serious threats in her direction,” Turning Point USA spokesman Andrew Kolvet said.

Erika Kirk and JD Vance embracing on stage at a Turning Point USA event.
Erika Kirk, widow of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, and U.S. Vice President JD Vance embrace on stage during a Turning Point USA event at the Pavilion at Ole Miss at the University of Mississippi, on October 29, 2025 in Oxford, Mississippi.Getty Images
“It’s a terrible reflection on the state of reality and the state of the country,” Kolvet added, arguing that some have made ”part time jobs out of attacking Erika.”

“Obviously these guys do a very good job,” he said of his Secret Service detail, “and I said, ‘You know what? Let’s let Erika do what she needs to do for herself and her family, I’m sure Andrew will fill in, and let’s go and make this an amazing event.’”

The vice president lamented the “two separate living hells” Kirk has been subjected to since her husband’s assasination last September, namely the shocking, public murder of her children’s father and the intense online criticism of her that followed.

Erika Kirk, CEO and Chair of Turning Point USA, sitting silently onstage at the 2025 New York Times Dealbook Summit.
Vice President JD Vance indicated he was aware of the threats made against Erika Kirk but did not want to skip the event at the University of Georgia.Getty Images
“Everybody is attacking her over everything, and they’re lying about her, and it’s one of the most disgraceful things that I’ve ever seen in public life,” Vance fumed.

“The people telling you that Erika wasn’t grieving her husband are full of s–t,” he raged.

Vance called the unhinged conspiracy theories that Erika Kirk is somehow complicit in her husband’s murder “so preposterous and so disgusting.”

“The response to Charlie Kirk getting assassinated by a left-wing furry lover,” Vance argued, “should have been, let’s go after left wing violence and terrorism.”

JD Vance and Andrew Kolvet speaking at a Turning Point USA event.
Andrew Kolvet explained that Erika Kirk received “very serious threats” ahead of the event.AP
He added, “If you’re going after Erika Kirk and not the people who are trying to destroy the United States of America, you’re part of the problem, not part of the solution.”

Kolvet later justifiably defended Kirk’s absence from the high-profile event, noting that she “has to live with this constant reality that her kids are one parent away from being orphans.”

“We take that extremely seriously,” he said.